The Flying Owl and a bit of NaNoJouMo!

The month of November is National NonStop Journaling Month.  It's a spinoff that was inspired by National NonStop Writing Month, where writers attempt to write 1,667 words everyday in attempt to finish a 50,000 word novel in an entire month.  If you ask me, NaNoJouMo is MUCH less intimidating than NaNoWriMo, because your journal can be ANYTHING you want it to be.  It can be an: art journal, a dream journal, a goal journal, a gratitude journal,  a one-sentence journal...the list goes on.  You don't even need to do a complete journal entry every-day (except for maybe the one-sentence journal).  For instance, if you choose to do an art journal, the idea is to get something on the paper EVERYDAY, even if it is just one single line, doodle, background, etc. each day, or if you are doing some kind of writing journal to get some words on the paper everyday even if it is only one sentence, stanza of a poem, quote, recipe, verse of a song, etc.

Journaling is a well-known healing art, and it has so many benefits including stress reduction, self-awareness, escape, enhancing creativity, healing, personal growth, or archiving life.  Additionally,  it's a great activity for any age child or adult. 

The project I have chosen to undertake this month is art journaling, and for inspiration, I am following daily inspirational prompts provided by Dawn Sokol at D'Blogala.  Today's prompt was Take Flight, which could be interpreted literally or loosely.  As I was thinking about what I wanted to do, I was imagining doing something with the word metamorphosis.  When I think about taking flight I think about a new beginning, or change, and metamorphosis is certainly a change.  I had the magazines, adhesive, glaze and micron pens, and the spray bottle (one of my favorite art tools) ready to go.  As soon as my daughter went to bed, I was going to get my art on!  YAHOO!

Well...as we all know too well, life does not always go as we plan.  As I was giving my "under-the-weather" daughter a nebulizer treatment this evening, she asked if I would make her a get well picture after she went to bed, and given her strong spirit, she had some VERY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS:  she wanted rainbows, peace signs, and a cartoon owl.  Because she was feeling so horrible today with her asthmatic croup, I couldn't say no.  The following is my best attempt at meeting those requirements, and I just know it will make her day tomorrow morning when she sees it.

I must admit I don't know much about owls, except that they perch in trees and are nocturnal animals.  I honestly didn't know whether or not they flew, so I had to Google that.  As it turns out, OWLS DO TAKE FLIGHT.  

I just LOVE IT when life comes full circle!